The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius: Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He Was Employed; together with a Critical Account of His WorksBurigny, M. de (Jean Lévesque)
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The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius: Containing a Copious and Circumstantial History of the Several Important and Honourable Negotiations in Which He Was Employed; together with a Critical Account of His Works
Burigny, M. de (Jean Lévesque)
Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645
His Apology was soon translated into Latin, for it was published at
Paris in the year 1622. In the dedication to the people of Holland and
West Friesland the Author explains his reasons for so long delaying his
vindication. During his nine months confinement at the Hague he could do
nothing in it; when removed to Louvestein he wanted several necessary
pieces; since his happy escape he was much busied; besides it required
time to range the several parts of his defence in proper order. The work
is divided into twenty Chapters: in the first he shews that each of the
United Provinces is sovereign and independent of the States-General,
whose authority is confined to the defence of the Provinces: in the
second, that each Province is possessed of the Sovereignty in matters
ecclesiastical, and that this sovereignty resides in the particular
States of the Province: in the third and fourth, that the different
opinions about Predestination ought to be tolerated: in the fifth, that
the convocation of a Synod in the situation of affairs at that time must
have been attended with great danger; that the assembling of the Synod
of Dort was illegal, since it was done without consent of the Province
of Holland: in the sixth, he sets forth the measures taken by the States
of Holland to restore tranquillity; in the seventh, the reasonableness
of the regulation of 1591 relating to the share which the Magistrates
ought to have in the nomination of the Ministers of the Gospel; in the
eighth, that the approbation of the majority ought to be looked upon as
a decision: the excesses of the Contra-Remonstrants are particularised
in the ninth: the tenth and eleventh justify the province of Holland in
relation to the raising a new militia, which were called Attendants.
The informality of his arrest is displayed in the thirteenth Chapter;
Grotius there shews that he and the others arrested at the same time had
only executed the orders of their Superiors and Sovereigns; that those
who arrested him had no power to do it; that the States-General had no
authority over the subjects of the Provinces; that they were a party in
the dispute; that the persons arrested were members of the States of
Holland, and were arrested in the Province of Holland, where the
States-General had no jurisdiction. The fourteenth Chapter exposes the
want of formality in the proceedings from the time of their arrest to
the nomination of their judges. The fifteenth Chapter points out the
want of formality in the nomination of the judges: and proves the
extravagancy of making it a crime in them to maintain the rights of the
States their Sovereigns, agreeable to the express orders they received.
The sixteenth Chapter explains the informality committed after the
Judges were nominated. The seventeenth displays the irregularity of the
sentence passed upon them. The eighteenth gives a detail of the wrongs
done to them after the Sentence. The nineteenth Chapter contains several
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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